Nicky Butt has now insisted that former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho shared something in common with both Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola.
Jose Mourinho, who is currently managing Benfica, is widely regarded as one of the best managers of all time after his prolific managerial career at elite clubs.
The 63-year-old Portuguese manager found success during his time at Old Trafford in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era at the Premier League club.
Mourinho, who shared a legendary rivalry with Pep Guardiola in Spain, lifted both the Europa League title and League Cup trophy with Manchester United.
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Nicky Butt defends Jose Mourinho at Man Utd amid his comparison with Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola
Jose Mourinho was brought through the doors at Old Trafford in 2016 after Manchester United made the decision to axe Louis van Gaal from his role.
The ‘Special One’ led United to second place in the Premier League table in the 2017-18 season, but Mourinho fell short of capturing the league title with the club.
Speaking on The Good, The Bad & The Football, Nicky Butt insisted that he really liked Mourinho amid the negativity that the former United manager received.
“A lot of people didn’t like him at Man United; he got a lot of bad press, but I
thought he was brilliant,” he said.
“They finished second, won the Europa League.”
United legend Butt also claimed that Mourinho’s time at Man Utd showed that the former Chelsea boss had an aura like Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola did.
“We got brought up with arguably the best manager of all time, but that’s not what just makes Sir Alex great, it’s not what makes Pep great, what I think makes them great is when they can walk into a room and they can command the attention of the players, the authority, have presence,” he added.
“Mourinho had that [at United], and he had Zlatan [Ibrahimovic], [Paul] Pogba, [Wayne] Rooney, a lot of big players.”
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Nicky Butt talks up what he saw from Jose Mourinho during his Man Utd reign at Old Trafford
Mourinho’s reign at United ended in 2018 after a rocky start to the 2018-19 campaign led to the former Red Devils boss being dismissed from his role.
Butt, who previously coached at Old Trafford, admitted that he saw Mourinho work incredibly hard as Red Devils head coach during his time at the Premier League club.
“When I was there with him, he was a figure who you knew was in charge,” he explained.
“He was on it, in his office with his pens, at 7.30am and he was on it. He was brilliant.
“Carlo Ancelotti, Pep, Mourinho, Sir Alex, [Jurgen] Klopp, these are managers who are big characters who can carry a big club. There [are] a lot of egos in the big clubs, and you have to have that at those [kinds] of clubs.
“He was in there at half seven in the morning and until 9 o’clock at night. I [have] seen it with my own eyes as I was at the academy. He works his socks off.”
Mourinho, who has been linked with a return to Real Madrid in recent weeks, returned to management with Benfica in 2025 after he was sacked by Fenerbahce.
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